WESTON -- Antoinette M. Hays has been named as the next president of Regis College, its Board of Trustees announced May 3. Currently the dean of the college's nursing school, Hays assumes her presidential responsibilities July 1.

"We are very pleased and deeply honored that Dr. Hays has agreed to lead our institution during this time of significant growth and challenge," said Donna M. Norris, Chairman of the Regis Board of Trustees. "She has already demonstrated the innovation, wisdom and outstanding leadership needed to continue the momentum begun under (current president Mary Jane) England."

Hays succeeds England, who is stepping down at the end of June after a 10-year stint.

Outgoing president England praised her successor.

"Dr. Hays is a remarkable individual who possesses outstanding vision, energy, and poise," England said.

"She has a track record of executing her ideas locally and globally with great integrity and a strong sense of values. She is a person of imagination, achievement and great humanity. This college and its board are enthusiastic about her selection as the right individual to be the president of Regis at this time," she added.

Beginning in 2007, well before the massive earthquake in 2010, Hays worked tirelessly with England to establish an international nursing education program aimed at educating nursing faculty in Haiti.

Forged in collaboration with the Haitian Ministry of Health, the Regis College Haiti Project now has the approval of the International Haiti Recovery Commission and is funded through Partners in Health, the Ansara Family Foundation, and other donors. The first cohort of 12 Haitian nursing faculty members will arrive on the Regis campus to begin their master's program this June.

Hays has played a pivotal role in implementing new undergraduate programs in health and fitness, as well as public health. She also was pivotal in adding new master's programs in nursing, health administration, and biomedical science to existing master's programs in communications, education, management, and health product regulation. She oversaw and launched the college's first doctoral program, a Doctorate of Nursing Practice.

Under her leadership, the Regis College School of Nursing, Science and Health Professions won the only designation in New England as a Center of Excellence in Nursing Education (2008-2011) from the National League of Nursing. Regis' award-winning nursing programs have affiliations with 11 greater Boston hospitals, helping hospitals enhance job retention by promoting career development.

"Having come up through the faculty, I know how Regis guides, develops and graduates its students, and I will be tireless in continuing to advocate for curricular options that meet their needs as well as those of the marketplace, "said Hays.

"With the support of the Regis learning community and the Board of Trustees, I am absolutely committed to strengthening our college -- the School of Liberal Arts, Education, and Social Sciences and the School of Nursing, Sciences and Health Professions -- in the higher education environment of New England," she continued.

Hays is married to Dr. John Przybylski, and they have three grown children.

England will continue her leadership roles in health policy, health care reform and mental health, beginning with her appointment as visiting professor of health policy and management at Boston University in the coming year.